The warmth of your hand holding mine
by Stelra Etnae
Summary: And Sabo knew that he no longer needed to fear the burn of fire nor the cold of the sea, because they would always be there to pull him back up to solid ground.


_**Warning: Some spoilers for Dressrosa arc**_

* * *

Koala coughed as the wind blew a thick cloud of dark smoke in her direction. Around her, a bunch of burly smugglers lay unconscious, some with dark bruises already blooming across their faces where she had mercilessly punched them. She expelled an exasperated breath through her nose. She, Sabo and Hack had been doing a simple reconnaissance mission on some rumoured smuggling activity down here by the old abandoned docks when the smugglers had gotten a little too enterprising and tried ambush them, likely with eyes on Sabo's not inconsiderable bounty. It had gone just as well as you would expect, really, with odds of five to one against two masters of fishman karate and one of the Revolutionary Army's most terrifying fighters.

And then Sabo just _had_ to set off an explosion. Honestly, they were trying to stay low-key here!

The wind blew away a bit more smoke, revealing what looked like the sorry remains of a stray keg of gunpowder, smouldering fitfully. It was a lucky chance that it had rained heavily just that morning, so the leaves that littered the ground were too damp to properly spread the fire. As the blanketing smoke slowly dispersed, more unconscious figures could be seen, most of them looking somewhat singed but they had been far enough from the explosion to not get caught in the brunt of it. The Mera Mera no Mi would have protected Sabo from any direct fire damage, so she wasn't too worried on that front.

A silhouette shifted in the smoke, and Koala shifted into a defensive stance until she recognized Hack's figure. She relaxed, raising a hand to acknowledge him. The frown on his face was the first sign that something was wrong.

"Koala, have you seen Sabo?"

Icy dread pooled in her gut, her intuition telling her instantly that this wasn't a usual case of their wayward commander straying off without telling them.

And when her eyes landed on a familiar begoggled black top hat balancing precariously on the very edge of the dock before getting swept off by the wind, her heart stopped for one blindingly numb moment before picking back up until she felt like her heart would push out of her chest.

She was running before she even consciously realized, and out of the corner of her eye she saw Hack turn and start sprinting as well, clearly also coming to the same conclusion that she had. Still she reached the edge first and she spared no thought of diving off the edge into the freezing water.

* * *

He couldn't move. Couldn't breathe, couldn't struggle, couldn't do _anything_.

It was only some deep-set training that kept him from inhaling the water that was _everywhere_ , because hadn't he and Koala always challenged who could hold their breath longest, and they'd practiced together and gotten better at it over the years and while Koala had always been just that little bit better, he also… he…

 _The water burned on his skin, searing, festering._

' _Swim!' he tried to tell himself, because he could, couldn't he? He remembered, remembered, but his body was so, so heavy._

' _Swim!' a different voice yelled in his mind, a voice that was not his own. Another one joined that first voice, equally familiar. So familiar, so dear, yet… Whose?_

 _But he couldn't, not anymore._

' _I'm sorry…' was his last thought before even the flaring flames faded away into darkness._

 _Who was he apologizing to?_

 _Who…_

"SABO!"

Shock made his eyes snap open to a sky so bright it seared his eyes, and his lungs automatically sucked in a breath that was air so pure it made him choke. Closing his eyes back against the glare, he took a few more gulping breaths to ground himself as the world returned.

Slim yet strong arms were locked around his chest, anchoring him to the surface. He was still half-submerged in the water, but he didn't feel heavy anymore. Not with that familiar warmth pressed against his back, keeping the both of them afloat with firm, strong kicks.

"Koala," he murmured, letting his head tip back onto her shoulder. He felt a shuddering breath go through her. She said nothing further as she swam their way back to the shore, Hack following behind to give any support if necessary.

Sabo sank bonelessly onto the dusty wood of the dock, staring up at the blue, blue sky. Bright, unlike the merciless depths of the sea.

Koala's voice was shaky as she railed against him, moisture clinging to her eyelashes, the type that she would always insist was from the sea but really wasn't. "You idiot! You absolute idiot! When we turned around and you were gone, I-"

She broke off with a squeak when he suddenly grabbed her and hugged tight, burying his face in the crook of her shoulder. "S-Sabo-kun?"

He knew that she could feel the shivers shuddering through his body, and after a moment her arms came back up to hold him as well. She was warm even after the dip in the ocean, so warm.

"Hey, Sabo-kun," she whispered against his hair. "I'm here, and Hack's here too. You're not alone. We won't let you be alone, you know. I've got you now. You know we've all got you."

And part of him, with memories once lost to time and smoke, faintly remembered another time, when calloused but gentle hands lifted him out of the sea.


End file.
